The Funeral Rites of Torajaland

Carved in the cliffs of

Torarjaland are the eerie cliff cemeteries of the Toraja. The funeral rites of the Toraja are some of the most elaborate in the world. After a death in the Toraja Society, an enormous feast is held, in which water buffalo and pigs are ritually slaughtered and served. The deceased are then put into a stone grave carved out of the cliffside or in coffins hanging from the rocks. A wooden effigy or

tau-tau

is put up near the grave to look out over the land. The effigies are tightly packed together, with generations of wooden replicas of deceased villagers standing shoulder to shoulder looking down upon trespassers for all eternity. Babies are not buried in rocks but in a tree so they will grow while the tree is growing, too.